From the Desk of the CEO: November 2025
A Culture of Winning…Together
There’s never been a better time to be part of Special Olympics PA.
I’ve said that to many people over the years. And, every time I’ve said it, it has been true! Along the way we’ve faced many challenges and overcome many obstacles, but we’ve worked hard every day to be better than we were the day before.
And, that same sentiment is certainly true now. Our board of directors, a group of dedicated and passionate volunteers just like many of you, recently approved the 2026-2030 strategic plan, and our future is bright!
Many of you helped create the plan itself, and hundreds more of you provided feedback. In fact, more than 300 individuals took the time to complete an online survey about our future direction. We received some helpful feedback and constructive comments, and the sentiment was overwhelmingly supportive – especially from our athletes! I personally reviewed the raw responses, and a summary of the results and comments was shared with our board of directors before they voted to approve the plan. Thank you to everyone who contributed – your voices were heard!
The new strategic plan utilizes the same framework that has been in place for several years. It includes 3 mission-focused goals and 3 foundational goals. These are outlined in the graphic below.
What will success look like at the end of 2030? Well, among other things, we want to double the number of athletes participating in Special Olympics PA programs each year, grow the number of Unified Champion Schools programs to more than 1,000, add significantly more training sites and competition opportunities, and improve the overall health and wellness of our athletes. You can download and read more of the specifics in the final plan which is posted on our website here.
It certainly won’t be easy to accomplish everything we’ve laid out in this plan. But, I’m confident that by working together – volunteers, staff, board members, athletes and families – we can win together!
The best is truly yet to come!